All Things:AMC television

Evan Goldberg Talks AMC PREACHER TV Series, THE INTERVIEW, and CONSOLE WARS | Collider

While speaking with Collider’s SXSW correspondent Perri Nemiroff at the film festival in Austin, Goldberg discussed the TV adaptation of the Garth Ennis comic Preacher, for which he says they’ll be making some structural changes but will keep the essence of the comic intact:

“We just had a meeting with AMC and Garth Ennis, who’s the writer, and we all kind of seemed to agree that we’re gonna stay as true to the comic as we can. We need to change some stuff but we’re not gonna change much, I hope. We’re just gonna do a little more of the preamble instead of doing flashbacks and restructure how we dole out the information a little, but we’re gonna [do the] same characters, same story, same ending. We’re gonna try to stick to Preacher as best we can. We’re making it with Sam Catlin who did Breaking Bad, and so he might tell me I’m wrong about all of this and that the real way to do it is different because he’s much smarter and better at all this than I am. But we’re gonna try to stick to what it is as best we can.”

Studios have been trying to get a feature film adaptation of the dark property off the ground for years, but Goldberg says a TV iteration is the best way to tell that story:

“We’re beyond excited, we’ve tried to make it for 10 years. The big difference is everyone else tried to make it a movie and it shouldn’t be a movie. It should be an AMC show, that’s the proper way for it to get done… It’s too big; you can’t do that in a movie. It’s just too big. You’ve gotta learn the characters, it’s all about a love triangle and you need to grow with them and see the woman swayed one way or the other, and in a movie you just can’t accomplish all that.”
 
Man, Walking Dead is in a pickle. Great direction with all the characters divided and boundaries and motivations being developed. In the past 2 episodes they have spent a LOT of time fleshing out some characters that we all kinda didn't even know by name. The episode last week, that a lot of people, myself included, felt unecessary, paid off nicely tonight. Nice to see the Mayor from Sons of Anarchy and really curious/worried about Beth. We are going to see some dark times for Darryl I think. That's a shame really but it will be good for the story. I only hope that they don't rush things. Only three episodes left but I really don't want to see a big 'Lost' style music swells type of reunion...yet. I think these folks need to suffer and grow some more. This may not be ALWAYS satisfying, but if they keep developing things long term I think it will all pay off big time. Good episode and it made me actually care even more about Beth, Bob and Tyrese's sister(sorry...still needs some work before I know her name).
 
Agree and the story is starting to set up nicely along some lines from the book. Darryl is back with a "Meryl" stand in and the "Mayor" is an old school bad guy. This should be interesting ...
 
Another very good episode where once again I didn't notice the lack of most of the cast until it was over. Geez, we haven't seen Tyrese and Carol since their one episode. This whole small group thing is really working out well and I think the show is better when the characters are on the move. I worry about a hokey 'Daryl falling back into being a henchman for a jagoff' plotline. Hopefully he will realize what he has gotten himself involved with and make them disappear one by one.

Now Maggie has the second-best weapon.
 
I've seen the first Walking Dead and the last Walking Dead.

Aside from a mostly different cast, nothing has changed.
 
Are we all sure that Bob's wound was entirely already there? I'm expecting him to turn at any moment. Also, heading to a place called "Terminus" is a great idea, guys, because that word totally isn't a synonym for "the end".
 
Yeah there are some real plot twists from the books that are bound to show up in the TV series.

My oldest was saying that the whole mortuary was bizarre and really seemed like a set up. Good food, made up dead bodies in the basement, the proverbial horde at the door missing the can line??? Something isn't right and it looked like a lure to me more then anything. And why would someone want to kidnap people in this new world?
 
[TV] AMC Won't ***** Up "Preacher", Says Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg -

I have no idea what the hell happened to AMC’s “The Walking Dead” adaptation, but what I do know is that I love the comic book. The stories from behind-the-scenes of the troubled “Walking Dead” scare me when talking about AMC’s next adaptation, Garth Ennis’ “Preacher.” While the zombie series is a massive hit, I personally think it doesn’t live up to the standards of AMC’s other great series, and I hope they don’t ***** up “Preacher.”

Either they’re playing nice, still in the honeymoon phase, or AMC has learned from past mistakes, but Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg tell AICN that they will have no issues with adapting “Preacher,” except for some minor nudity issues (clearly).

When AICN’s Quint declared his biggest fear was that the weirdness isn’t going to make it through the system, Goldberg quickly stopped him: “Wrong. The weirdness is in.”

He continued speaking to their so-far awesome relationship with AMC.

“We went into AMC last week with [creator] Garth Ennis and I’ve never felt like a studio or network was more on the same page with us. We pitched them and they said, ‘Perfect! That’s exactly what we wanted to hear. No notes.’ ”

“Last week was the first meeting we had with me, Evan and Garth Ennis and (‘Breaking Bad’s') Sam Catlin, who is our showrunner, and AMC,” Rogan added. “I obviously was a little nervous. It seems like the language is going to be the most restrictive thing, but that I’m not worried about.

“That, the religious stuff, they’re totally cool with,” he adds, speaking to the shocking plot of a preacher hunting God down to make him pay for abandoning his creation. “The violence, they’re totally cool with. The nudity is hard, but we can find ways around that. Overall, it was one of the best meetings I’ve ever had, honestly.” Goldberg added: “It was the best meeting we’ve ever had.”

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSSSSE get this right.
 
Quint talks Neighbors, deleted scenes and Preacher with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg! - Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Evan Goldberg: The beautiful thing is that Sam Catlin, who was one of the geniuses behind Breaking Bad, wasn't a fan of it until we got into this and then sped through it all and fell in love with it. But he's the one who's the voice of reason whenever we nerd out about it too much. He's the one, “Naw, guys.”

Seth Rogen: Yeah, because he hasn't loved it for years. He's only loved it for months.

Evan Goldberg: He understands that... like, in Breaking Bad some characters weren't supposed to live long and they kept them. He explained to us “You don't realize what you'll experience.”

Seth Rogen: He's like, “Who knows? It's silly right now to decide exactly what's going to happen.”

Ennis being on board certainly is a positive.
 
Yeah there are some real plot twists from the books that are bound to show up in the TV series.

My oldest was saying that the whole mortuary was bizarre and really seemed like a set up. Good food, made up dead bodies in the basement, the proverbial horde at the door missing the can line??? Something isn't right and it looked like a lure to me more then anything. And why would someone want to kidnap people in this new world?

The horde hit the can line - Daryl thought it was the dog again, even though I could see five-foot tall shapes through the window of the door from my couch and Daryl couldn't. As for kidnapping people, Beth is a young girl and there are lots of evil people wandering around. I wouldn't be surprised if the driver of the car is part of the group Daryl just met and he has to pretend he doesn't know her so he can escape with her. The clock on something very bad happening to Beth is ticking, so I have to imagine the car turns up somewhere this season.
 
The horde hit the can line - Daryl thought it was the dog again, even though I could see five-foot tall shapes through the window of the door from my couch and Daryl couldn't. As for kidnapping people, Beth is a young girl and there are lots of evil people wandering around. I wouldn't be surprised if the driver of the car is part of the group Daryl just met and he has to pretend he doesn't know her so he can escape with her. The clock on something very bad happening to Beth is ticking, so I have to imagine the car turns up somewhere this season.

If they are smart...and I think Gimple is, they will go against expectations regarding Beth. I don't think they went to all that trouble to FINALLY flesh out her character to have her just become, let's face it, a sexual chew toy. I honestly hope we don't find out anything about her till next season or beyond. Let's say she got saved by a group who couldn't convince her that Darryl weren't gonna make it, and to save her they forced her into the car. There is more to that storyline than the obvious 'evil-that-men-do' route. This show needs to better develop long reaching stories and a sense of mystery, and taking Beth off the board for a while would go a long way towards that. Imagine Darryl re-unites with Maggie and has to tell her how he failed? You get the Darryl hating on himself and challenge feelings that the group has for each other.
 
Well, they found a way for something to be even more heartbreaking than when Sophia emerged from the barn, and by more, I mean leave it in the dust.
 
I guess that was the controversial episode. Man, have they heaped enough on poor Carol? At least she unburdened herself. And Tyrese did the worst thing he could have done. I think she was looking for a way out at that point. See Rick...that is how you weigh out a decision. Tyrese would be a better leader.

I really like the individual stories. Sadly I KNOW they will **** things up because they feel a NEED to have a big finale. Fun while it lasted.
 
Great episode I thought. Unfortunately, they totally foreshadowed the younger of the two girls being killed, but man.... Was NOT expecting that.
 
If they are smart...and I think Gimple is, they will go against expectations regarding Beth. I don't think they went to all that trouble to FINALLY flesh out her character to have her just become, let's face it, a sexual chew toy. I honestly hope we don't find out anything about her till next season or beyond. Let's say she got saved by a group who couldn't convince her that Darryl weren't gonna make it, and to save her they forced her into the car. There is more to that storyline than the obvious 'evil-that-men-do' route. This show needs to better develop long reaching stories and a sense of mystery, and taking Beth off the board for a while would go a long way towards that. Imagine Darryl re-unites with Maggie and has to tell her how he failed? You get the Darryl hating on himself and challenge feelings that the group has for each other.

While I completely agree with you here the source material generator (Kirkman) was never this creative. He admitted he never could be that creative because he was constantly worried about cancellation. I give him high marks for the stories he generated prior to television series but he has disappointed me to a point so far. I guess I need to look at it from his angle and then I would better understand why he didn't fight harder for certain things. I will admit they have surprised me a bit with some of the good stories they came up with in Season 1 and this season.

I have my own theories on what happened to Beth and who Darryl ended up falling in with, based on the source material (because I don't really see AMC wanting to deviate too much from the source material). I won't go into them but as I told my family, who didn't read the books, this is a completely new and horrible world. The meaning of "fear the living and fight the dead" is now fully understood by those that watch - people left to their own devices will inevitably go the way of Cain. This was obvious when the "mayor of Charming"/Joe told Darryl, "why hurt each other when we can hurt so many other people." We will find out next week I guess from the trailer.

In terms of last night - that was tremendously heart wrenching and good television. First the child double tap and then Carol's admission and Tyrese's acceptance and forgiveness. They are both such fine actors. I have really liked the individual story lines following the prison falling. And I totally thought the fire was the house Darryl and Beth torched - I have no doubt that these people were in fact much closer to one another than they imagined. I have my own misgivings about "Terminus" - no place in this new world can be that great. The interesting thing is where they are going to go with the show once they have caught up to the source material, which is probably closer then you would think. I am not sure how they will be able to sustain after that. They have done a great job this season, though in my mind, getting their feet back under them. But if they kill Darryl or Glen there is going to be a huge backlash by the viewers as they are such fan favorites. I, too, hope they don't off someone major just to off someone. You would think they would have learned something from Breaking Bad.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
While I completely agree with you here the source material generator (Kirkman) was never this creative. He admitted he never could be that creative because he was constantly worried about cancellation. I give him high marks for the stories he generated prior to television series but he has disappointed me to a point so far. I guess I need to look at it from his angle and then I would better understand why he didn't fight harder for certain things. I will admit they have surprised me a bit with some of the good stories they came up with in Season 1 and this season.

I have my own theories on what happened to Beth and who Darryl ended up falling in with, based on the source material (because I don't really see AMC wanting to deviate too much from the source material). I won't go into them but as I told my family, who didn't read the books, this is a completely new and horrible world. The meaning of "fear the living and fight the dead" is now fully understood by those that watch - people left to their own devices will inevitably go the way of Cain. This was obvious when the "mayor of Charming"/Joe told Darryl, "why hurt each other when we can hurt so many other people." We will find out next week I guess from the trailer.

In terms of last night - that was tremendously heart wrenching and good television. First the child double tap and then Carol's admission and Tyrese's acceptance and forgiveness. They are both such fine actors. I have really liked the individual story lines following the prison falling. And I totally thought the fire was the house Darryl and Beth torched - I have no doubt that these people were in fact much closer to one another than they imagined. I have my own misgivings about "Terminus" - no place in this new world can be that great. The interesting thing is where they are going to go with the show once they have caught up to the source material, which is probably closer then you would think. I am not sure how they will be able to sustain after that. They have done a great job this season, though in my mind, getting their feet back under them. But if they kill Darryl or Glen there is going to be a huge backlash by the viewers as they are such fan favorites. I, too, hope they don't off someone major just to off someone. You would think they would have learned something from Breaking Bad.

You outdid yerself...great post. I really hope that Gimple does not get SHOOK...he has done yeomans work with the characters and has finally compartmentalized what works. Took the overexposed/questionable characters(Rick/Carl/Michonne) and focused them, while spending time using the languishing characters(Tyrese/The Kids/Carol/Beth/Tyrese's sister/Stookie(?)) to great effect. And Darryl...we are gonna see what he is made of. That's awesome solely because it would be sooooo easy to just have him serve fan expectation. If they go big...and have Darryl do things that may go against peoples expectations...well that would be brave. Last night's episode I really think was more a result of people other than Kirkman...Therein lies the problem...how much will AMC fight Kirkman's apparent micromanaging? I really think we are gonna find out in these next 2...I want the season to end on a EMPIRE STRIKES BACK note, with nobody safe...nobodies fate determined. But they are gonna go for some sort of money shot...and it is gonna be tough not to **** it up.
 
Back
Top